CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Governor Abigail Spanberger has written a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins urging the Trump Administration reconsider allowing 330 million metric tons of ground beef into the U.S. tariff-free to be sold at a discount, according a Governor’s Office release.

“It is absolutely catastrophic, it is ill-conceived, it is deeply damaging,” Spanberger told On the Farm Radio’s Jeff Ishee. “It’ll hurt the cattle industry across the country and particularly, of course, my concern is what it will do to Virginia’s cattle producers.”

Virginia is home to more than 21,000 beef cattle producers raising an estimated 575,000 head across every corner of the Commonwealth, making beef cattle the second-largest commodity produced in Virginia, according to the release.

“In 2024, the industry supported more than $712 million in cash receipts to the Commonwealth’s economy,” the release said.

In the letter, Spanberger wrote, “These predominantly family-run operations are dedicated to raising high-quality, nutritious beef for Americans’ tables and they will bear the brunt of this catastrophic policy choice.”

“This policy will directly harm Virginia’s cattle producers by flooding the market with government subsidized, imported beef to the detriment of our farmers,” wrote Spanberger. “This handout to foreign competitors has already caused a negative reaction in cattle markets while providing no guarantee of retail price relief for consumers.”

She noted major meatpackers “closing slaughter and processing facilities across the country, including facilities Virginia cattlemen rely on”.

Richard Fox, an Albemarle County producer who operates a cow-calf operation along with a hay field, said the packers are the crux of the issue as cattle herds diminished throughout the past several years.

He explained his cow-calf operation is Phase One in the beef cattle industry, where the cattle are bred and raised to about 500-600 pounds and then sold to a so-called “backgrounder” who is Phase Two of the beef cattle raising.

“They put another couple hundred pounds on them, and then they’re sold to the Phase Three ‘finisher’ who raises the cow to 1200-1400 pounds who then sells them to the processor,” Fox said during an appearance on the Schilling Show.

Fox said his Phase One stage has high costs, but the lowest margin in the whole process. He said it’s the processor at the top of the chain making all the money.

“You know, I think the biggest problem is over time especially with agriculture there’s buyout, there’s consolidations, the smaller guys are always getting bought up by the bigger guys,” Fox said. “You think about trust-busting, you think about all these things that were happening back in the 1800s and early 1900s with big business and these railroads and things like that.”

“Part of me, you know being a small government, no government, guy is don’t get involved,” said Fox. “But at a certain point if you’re not going to get involved to break it up, you need to be involved to allow the free market to flourish with competition.”

Fox pointed out there are just four major meatpacking companies operating in the United States, and two of them are foreign-owned.

“Why are we allowing one of them to donate politically and then turn around a-year-and-a-half later and be the beneficiary of one of the biggest things that’s going to undermine the American farmer in the last ten years?”

Spanberger spoke to Ishee about this development at a time when producers are facing a number of challenges already.

“The drought conditions we’ve had that have impacted, of course, hay production,” said Spanberger. “This comes at a time where we’re seeing additional consolidation within the processing side of things and it’s challenge-upon-challenge, and it comes at a time where we’re already seeing fuel prices that continue to be on an upward trajectory.”

“We’re talking about input costs,” said Fox. “Fuel, fertilizer, the cost of equipment. Fuel prices were high under Biden and it was tough and I’ll be honest, I was really hoping we were going to be over that hump after ’24 and then going into this spring with the Iranian conflict fuel and fertilizer again are unfortunately sky-high.”

“That hurts farmers, and that hurts the trucking shipment of the beef,” he said. “You’re seeing that hidden fuel tax, and tax in loose terms, but you’re seeing that on the farmers on the front end and you’re seeing that on the shipping after it’s been processed and everything in between.”

Fox told The Schilling Show the tariffs are hurting farmers in that they can buy an American John Deere tractor, but some of them are made in Germany.

“Our round baler we have, a high moisture-high capacity special baler and there’s not many of them like it, but that baler’s made in France,” Fox said. “Even though it’s owned by an American company it’s manufactured in a foreign country where it comes back to America 15% more expensive, so tariffs haven’t’ gone great.”

Fox suggests opening the meatpacking up with The Prime Act by Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) which allows smaller beef processors the same ability to enter that space as long as they’re within their state lines which could introduce more competition.

“What does competition bring, competition is going to bring a couple of things,” said Fox. “First of all it’s going to bring better cuts of beef at a lower price to the consumer, and we’re also going to ensure farmers are getting paid a fair price for their product.”

He said this would instill the confidence, and help raise the capital, for beef cattle farmers at the cow-calf phase to increase their herds.

Fox noted Phase One operations like his are where the breeding occurs and is the cornerstone of the industry.

“I urge the USDA and the Trump Administration to reconsider your actions and heed the calls of livestock producers and agriculture industry leaders and focus the Administration’s efforts on strengthening the domestic herd and supporting the long-term growth and success of the beef cattle industry, rather than short-term disruptions.” Spanberger wrote. “We welcome collaboration between our Administrations to improve risk management offerings for beef producers, like Livestock Risk Protection; fully enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act to ensure fairness in the marketplace and ensure cattle producers have access to price transparency, discovery, and reporting; and work strategically to expand and stabilize regional packing capacity.”